Geek girls help pave way for women entrepreneurs

Column: I'm There for You, Baby

Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, serial entrepreneurs who invest in early-stage technology companies, will take turns writing this weekly column about entrepreneurship in San Diego. Neil is the author of the book “I’m There for You, Baby: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which has more than 200 rules for entrepreneurs (www.imthereforyoubaby.com/). Please email ideas to Barbara at bbry@blackbirdv.com.

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, will be the next Internet woman billionaire when the company goes public, and her stated mission is to encourage women to find their “inner geek.” But Silicon Valley is not the only place that has smart, technical women. We have more than our fair share right here in San Diego.

At the recent Geek Girl Meetup at the Ansir Innovation Center, we were thrilled to meet almost 40 women (and a few brave men) who have either started, work for or aspire to start an Internet company. These cool women are knocking down the doors, breaking the glass ceiling and demanding to be taken seriously in what has heretofore been a male-dominated world.

The meetup was organized by Leslie Fishlock, the owner of Geek Girl Corp., which focuses on providing computer education to women. “My mom wanted to put the names of my swim team on a spreadsheet, and she had no idea how to use Excel. That’s when I realized that technology had passed a lot of women by,” said Fishlock.

The panel at the Geek Girl Meetup featured other diverse women entrepreneurs, too:

• Melani Gordon, co-founder and CEO of Tap Hunter, which connects craft beer fanatics with the beers they love, the brewers who brew them and the locations that pour them.

• Adriana Herrara, founder and CEO of Fashioning Change, which offers fashionable eco-friendly and ethical alternatives to popular name brands that lack transparency in their supply chains.

• Alexis Rodich, director of artist services at Bandsintown, a tracking and discovery application for the music industry.

Their concerns and comments echo for all young women entrepreneurs, and much of what they discussed — getting their product launched, raising money, and the choices and trade-offs they’ve made — is relevant for both women and men who are starting a company.

And they also talked about how being a woman in a male-dominated industry has sometimes been a challenge. “You hear put-downs, but you know that you’re smarter, and you’re there to do your job, so you don’t let them get to you,” said Mansolino.

“Both the music and technology world are male dominated. A lot of bonding goes on at odd hours. You hang out at the bar at a conference, and sometimes I’m hesitant to participate because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea,” said Rodich.

Only one, Mansolino, has a child. Gordon said that she and her husband have decided not to have children. Herrara and Rodich are optimistic that they will be able to have families should they choose to.

The amount of time required for their business means that they make trade-offs like any entrepreneur does. “I’ve missed 30th birthday parties and other important dates of friends and family because we’ve been traveling for business,” said Gordon.

“A lot of my relationships with my friends have changed. I’m talking about a series A financing, and they’re talking about their children,” said Herrara.

“Geek” was once a pejorative word that suggested overly intellectual, peculiar and even dislikable. That image is dead and gone. The new order will be led by the best and brightest, irrespective of gender. One of our companies has a woman president. The Girl Geeks are paving the way for others to follow without having to apologize for being aggressive, technical, Web savvy, computer literate, competitive and determined to succeed.

Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, serial entrepreneurs who invest in early-stage technology companies, write this weekly column about entrepreneurship in San Diego. Please email ideas to Barbara at bbry@blackbirdv.com